Nguyễn Thiện Thuật (阮善述, 1844–1926),

courtesy name A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...

Mạnh Hiếu, was a Vietnamese revolutionary leader, who commanded armed forces during the anti-colonial struggle. As a high-ranking official under the

Nguyễn dynasty The Nguyễn dynasty (, chữ Nôm: 茹阮, chữ Hán: 朝阮) was the last List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty, preceded by the Nguyễn lords and ruling unified Vietnam independently from 1802 until French protectorate in 1883 ...

, he governed

Hải Dương Hải Dương () is a city in Vietnam. It is the capital of Hải Dương Province, Hải Dương, an industrialized province in the Hanoi Capital Region and the Red River Delta in Northern Vietnam. The city is at the midpoint between the capita ...

Hải Phòng Haiphong or Hai Phong (, ) is the third-largest city in Vietnam and is the principal port city of the Red River Delta. The municipality has an area of , consisting of 8 List of urban districts of Vietnam, urban districts, 6 Huyện, rural distri ...

, and Quảng Ninh. When

Hà Nội Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

surrendered to the French in 1883, the Nguyễn regime signed the Treaty of Huế (also known as the Harmand treaty) and acknowledged the French protectorate over the northern and central parts of the Vietnam. When he was ordered to stop fighting, Nguyễn resigned from his post and retreated to Đông Triều, where he organized and continued armed resistance against the French. He also joined forces with the

Black Flag Army The Black Flag Army (; , chữ Nôm: ) was a splinter remnant of a bandit and mercenary group recruited largely from soldiers of ethnic Zhuang background and former Taiping soldiers who crossed the border in 1865 from Guangxi, China into north ...

led by Lưu Vĩnh Phúc. A nine-year revolt (from 1883 to 1892) ensued in the swampy area of Bãi Sậy. Due to constant attacks from the French, the resistance was weakened. Nguyễn left for China, with the hope of reviving the revolution at a later time, but died in

Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...

in 1926. His grandson was Chinese Nationalist Army major general Nguyễn Chấn Á who returned to Vietnam as one of the Taiwan military advisors.

Early years

Nguyễn Thiện Thuật was born on March 23, 1844, in Xuân Dục village, Đường Hào district (currently is Xuân Đào village, Xuân Dục commune, Mỹ Hào town, Hưng Yên province), was the eldest child of a poor Confucian, he was a descendant of Nguyễn Trãi. His father was lecturer Nguyễn Tuy. His younger brothers were Nguyễn Thiện Dương and Nguyễn Thiện Kế, they both participated in Bãi Sậy uprising that was led by Tán Thuật. In 1870, he graduated tú tài (秀才 junior bachelor). In 1874, he was appointed to ''Bang biện'' due to his merit in fighting the enemy in Kinh Môn, Hải Dương province. In 1876, he continued to take part in Confucianism examination and got cử nhân (舉人 senior bachelor) degree. After that, he was promoted to (Prefect) of Từ Sơn fu , Bắc Ninh province.

Revolutionary career

Memory

The first Main Force unit in Quảng Trị province of Vietnam Liberation Army was named after Nguyễn Thiện Thuật in

August Revolution The August Revolution (), also known as the August General Uprising (), was a revolution led by the Việt Minh against the Empire of Vietnam from 16 August to 2 September 1945. The Empire of Vietnam was led by the Nguyễn dynasty and was ...

. A commune of Kiến Xương district,

Thái Bình province Thái Bình was a former coastal eastern Provinces of Vietnam, province in the Red River Delta region of northern Vietnam. Its name is chữ Hán (太平) for "great peace." It is about 18 km from Nam Định, 70 km from Haiphong, and 110 km from ...

was named after Tán Thuật from 1947 to 2002.

Notes

References

1841 births 1926 deaths People from Hưng Yên province Vietnamese revolutionaries Vietnamese nationalists Tonkin campaign {{vietnam-activist-stub